There are many different approaches to central load management in power supply systems, such as direct load control or price signals to control production and consumption. Despite these measures there will always be an imbalance between production and consumption, i.e. due to fluctuating resource availabilities and unforeseen changes in consumption. As CO 2 emissions and sustainable electricity production have entered the focus of attention in politics and industries, ecologically advantageous concepts avoiding inefficiencies in power supply are strongly promoted. In this article, a self-organising approach to small devices such as freezers or washing machines as well as Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP) is presented, which aims at avoiding imbalances in the power network. While each device has its own constraints and specific task (e.g. provide heat or wash clothes), most of them have a limited degree of freedom in their schedules. A P2P approach with an Evolutionary Algorithm in combination with a local search is used to identify suitable partners to cover their production or consumption and thus to adjust the load in a way to minimise network imbalances.

Veränderte energiewirtschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen führen zu neuen Anforderungen an optimierende Energiesystemmodelle. Für Deutschland zeigt sich, dass aufgrund der Liberalisierung, mit der unternehmensrechtlichen Trennung von Erzeugung und Netz, sowie aufgrund von ambitionierten Zielen zum Ausbau der Windenergie eine starke räumliche und strukturelle Verschiebung von Erzeugungskapazitäten stattfindet. Das hat zur Folge, dass die bisher gängige Modellierung der Regionen als Kupferplatten, d. h. ohne die Berücksichtigung von Netzrestriktionen, zu suboptimalen Ergebnissen führen kann.

The introduction of emissions trading and the design of allocation plans have far-reaching implications on the development of the power plant mix, the CO2-emissions, and the power plant investments of energy utilities. Especially CO2- and electricity prices as well as the design of the allocation rules get more and more important for investment strategies of energy utilities. For this reason it is necessary to analyse the impacts of the Emission Trading Scheme on the future of power generation and investment decisions in power industry. For this purpose this paper shows some possibilities to analyse the impact of different allocation methods by using optimizing energy system models. Results show that the emission allocation scheme has a significant influence on power generation planning and power plant investments and with this on the evolution of CO2-emission and electricity market.

The implementation of the principles of sustainable development requires both using potentialities in saving resources and cutting down emissions (efficiency strategies) as well as more conscious patterns of behaviour of the actors involved (sufficiency strategies). Starting from the current situation of annual CO2 emissions of about 10 t and a sustainability goal of 1-2 t CO2 emissions per inhabitant and year, the question arises in how far households can contribute to achieve this goal. Therefore, in this paper, the environmental impacts of the energy demand of German households will be evaluated by means of describing its status quo and there from deriving saving potentials.

We present a solution to the problem of tariff design for an energy supplier (utility). The tariffs for electricity and — optionally — heat created with our pricing model are optimal in terms of the utility’s profit and take into account the consumers’ predicted behavior, their load curve, the utility’s generation prices, and prices for trading electricity on a day-ahead market like the European Energy Exchange (EEX). Furthermore, we analyze the repercussions of different assumptions about consumer behavior on a simulated market with four competing utilities. Consumer demand is modeled using an attraction model that reflects consumer inertia. Consumers will not always change their supplier, even if the total energy bill could be reduced by doing so: First, motivation to search for lower prices and to actually switch one’s supplier is low, given the small possible savings. Second, legal constraints may demand a minimal contract duration in some countries. The resulting nonlinear profit optimization problem of the suppliers is solved with a genetic algorithm. By varying the attraction parameters and thus representing different degrees of inertia, we observe different developments of the market.

In this article we discuss the impact of the increasingly higher dynamics and transparency on future electricity markets due to a higher degree of automation along the energy supply chain. As part of the SESAM (Self Organization and Spontaneity in Liberalized and Harmonized Markets) project, we analyze the consequences of the customers’ higher willingness to change their supplier. In addition, we evaluate the major changes in load profiles caused by the use of load management systems in combination with dynamic retail electricity prices. We demonstrate that not only the consumer load but also the application of decentralized combined heat and power plants can be rescheduled. Finally, we outline further research activities.

Due to the increasing competition in liberalized electricity markets, a succesful customer retention as well as a cost efficient allocation of electric energy become more and more important. Therefore, new, innovative strategies are sought, which promise on the one hand a long-term customer retention and assure, on the other hand, a more cost-efficient provision of electric energy.

Zusammenfassung Die natürlichen Ressourcen der Erde verknappen sich angesichts des Wachstums der Weltwirtschaft drastisch. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt gerade die Gestaltung zukunftsfähiger Energiesysteme eine besondere Herausforderung dar. Im Projekt SESAM wird unter der Prämisse, dass ein internetbasierter Markt, der einem offenen, liberalisierten Modell folgt, letztlich auch der beste Garant für einen ressourcenschonenden Energieeinsatz ist, die Vision eines zukunftsfähigen Energiesystems entworfen. In dem vorliegenden Artikel werden zunächst die Rahmenbedingungen dieses Marktes vorgestellt und daran anschließend wird die ökonomische sowie rechtliche Ausgestaltung des Marktes präsentiert. Der Beitrag schließt mit einer Beschreibung der notwendigen Informations- und Kommunikationsinfrastruktur.

The continuous growth of traffic volume in Europe over the past years and the corresponding economic and ecological impacts are the reasons for a recurring discussion of a more sustainability-oriented transport policy. In this context, the implementation of new transport policy instruments is part of the discussion. Against this background, the article investigates to what extent tradeable permits can be an alternative to the existing mix of transport policy instruments. A system of tradeable permits for heavy goods vehicles in ecologically sensitive areas has been designed and subsequently implemented on a theoretical level for one of the alpine corridors. The impact on traffic volume and the environment have been analysed using ad-hoc models. Conclusions drawn from these models can be used as a basis for a future application of such a system.